"London, June 18th, '52.
"My Dear Mr. Webster,
"It was with no small pleasure that I recognised your handwriting, and accepted the very grateful office of shewing civility to your friend.
"I fear that our climate at this moment will prove anything but beneficial to his daughter's health. We are now paying the penalty for three months of drought; I wish for his sake that he had arrived at an earlier period.
"We expect very little change in the relative strength of parties from the coming elections. The popular element must always gain, but less on this occasion than on any other, as the masses are enjoying in comfort the blessings of cheap food & abundant employment. The farmer even is thriving. He sells mutton of the growth of 18 months, he saves 20 per cent in the cost of labor. He economises in the purchase of all he consumes. Forgive this burst of Peelite exultation in consideration of the abuse & odium under which we have been laboring.
"Let me add however that I do not pretend to be a free trader for America, and thus oppose myself to your powerful authority. Believe me my dear Mr. Webster
"Yours very truly
Ashburton."
The following letter, addressed to Mr. Webster's law partner, John P. Healey, with its enclosure, has never been printed. Allusions are found to it in other letters of Mr. Webster written from London, contained in Mr. Webster's published correspondence. It is probable that Mr. Webster's friends in Boston took the liberty of withholding his letter refusing to be a candidate. At any rate, his name was presented to the Whig National Convention held at Harrisburg in October(?), 1839. That convention was held more than a year before the election. The delegates from each State were requested to present to the convention the name of their own choice for the Presidency, and with it the name of the other person whom they thought likely to be the strongest candidate in case their own selection were not adopted by the convention. These reports of the different delegations were all referred to a grand committee with instructions to recommend a candidate to the convention. The result was the nomination of General Harrison by a large majority. Then a committee was appointed to select a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. That committee first agreed upon the name of Benjamin Watkins Leigh, but, on his refusal to be a candidate, reported the name of John Tyler, with most unfortunate results for the Whig party:
"London, June 12, '39.